I'm possibly coming back to Subaru ownership, looking at a 2008 STI hatch. I've searched all over for a "buyers guide" but all that keeps coming up is the ringland failure issues. Is there anything else i should be wary of and check out before handing the cash over, any other common faults? do they have issues with the 4wd system like Evo's do with their AYC pumps etc? if the car did have ringland issues would be it obviously apparent or can it be hidden, what would i look for?

I've spoken to Andy Kindon about forged pistons and would likely be getting that done straight away anyway for piece of mind, but would obviously rather not buy a already f*cked one.


any advice is appreciated, thanks in advance.


Mike.

 

The most important thing is to make sure it's not a re-badged Rover 25, Focus etc, as most of them are.

LOL

Sorry, couldn't resist

 

might not be a bad thing if its a rover, probably less likely to have head gasket failure :P

 

If it's a genuine 08 check the wheels for any sign or bad corrosion.
Make sure the discs and pads have plenty of life in them or that's close to £1000 for a new set.
If you think the transmission sounds noisey on test find out when the diff and gearbox oils were changed. Mine was and turned out it hadn't been looked after so put some fresh oil in and solved the issue.
Never had any AWD issues, or electrical problems.
Make sure oil services have been kept up with.

 

Thanks for the info

What do you mean by "genuine 08"?

Apparently the wheels are mint, although I'll be changing them anyway.

I'll have a listen for any gearbox noise. The car in question has 71000 miles, has been serviced every 10k (6 stamps) but missed the 60k service. Not sure the service intervals on the hatches, are they every 10k or more frequent?

I will be replacing the pistons with forged ones and new gaskets straight away, would this go some way to mitigating the missing history?

 

Its not so much gearbox noise, was more diff noise on mine, clear sign the fluids hadn't been changed in a while.

6k miles was always my understanding on oil changes. Think Subaru say 8-10k but for piece of mind I always did mine a few thousand earlier.

Sounds like your doing all the right things.

 

If I buy it I'll be changing oil myself every 3k/6 month after the pistons go in. Hopefully the forged pistons should takeaway any worries of ringland failure, mainly for piece of mind that it's not going to go bang every time I drive it. It's got 4 new tyres, fresh mot and had the belts, tensioner and water pump just done. So if the brakes are ok i shouldn't expect any big bills in the immediate future.

 

Previous owners from West Yorkshire or Lancashire

 

Luckily it's further south than that, last/current owner is 63 year old bloke from 2010 to present, and one owner before that.